Pinkett caused controversy with comments he made on The McNeil and Speigel Show on a CBS Chicago radio station. He was initially suspended for the Fighting Irish’s season opener against Navy for saying the following, via CBS Chicago:

I’ve always felt like, to have a successful team, you gotta have a few bad citizens on the team. I mean, that’s how Ohio State used to win all the time. They would have two or three guys that were criminals. That just adds to the chemistry of the team. I think Notre Dame is growing because maybe they have some guys that are doing something worthy of a suspension, which creates edge on the football team. You can’t have a football team full of choir boys.

Pinkett is a former Notre Dame standout at running back, and he went on to play for six seasons with the Houston Oilers from 1986 to 1991. He apologized for his comments shortly after making them, saying the following, via CBS Chicago:

I am deeply sorry and did not intend to take away the focus from the upcoming season opener. I especially would like to offer my sincere apology to the current members of Notre Dame’s football team, including Coach Kelly, the entire Notre Dame community, the IMG College Audio Network and the Ohio State football program.

Head coach Brian Kelly suspended Justin Utupo, Cierre Wood, Tommy Rees and Carlo Calabrese for the team’s season opener, sparking Pinkett to explain his unorthodox take on the violations being beneficial to the team.

Kelly is among the number of people who have condemned the comments, saying (via Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports), “I can't wrap my brain around it.”